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Report - - The Littlest Hydroelectric Power Plant (& Hotel), USA March 2015 | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - The Littlest Hydroelectric Power Plant (& Hotel), USA March 2015

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mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
I seem to have missed these off the list of archive stuff to post, I don't quite know why either. Both are located in very close proximity to one another so decided to put them both in one thread.

This tiny hydro plant was built on the bank of a river in an extremely picturesque valley setting near a fork that forms a border between three states. It was abandoned many years ago yet the inside still retained everything as it was including the original turbine and associated governor. It was a small room probably no bigger than the downstairs footprint of a normal sized house, yet very photogenic and fascinating. The town the plant is located in is very old, historic and a real glimpse into 'Old America'. During the summer months it is absolutely rammed with tourists and visitors yet on a freezing cold snowy March day it was totally dead. Barely any traffic on the roads at all and it seemed like all the locals were hiding away from the bone-chilling cold.

After exhausting every possible way in we went for the 'obvious but looks sealed' way in and found it open. After poking around for a while, listening to the freight trains rumbling by we emerged into the snowy conditions to take exterior shots. As I was in the space under the building having a look around my friend hollered at me that two state park rangers had just driven by in a 4x4 and perhaps it was best to leave, so we did.

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After wandering back into town we went in search of lunch. Everywhere was closed - due to the weather, presumably - however we found one small cafe that was open. We had a wonderful fresh hot lunch during which we discovered that the owner of the cafe was a British ex-pat who grew up in the same area as my mother and went to the same school as her during the same time period. Small world!

Lunch devoured, we wandered through the town towards it's second abandonment, a large and imposing hotel perched atop one of the cliffs looking over the river valley. It was built in the late 1800s and over the years gained a reputation as a top place to stay. Presidents Wilson and Clinton, Alexander Graham Bell and Mark Twain all stayed here among many others, however it closed in 2008 and in the intervening years suffered from some of the most extreme subsidence I've seen. One entire end of the building has pretty much sunk resulting in an exterior wall collapse and corridors and rooms running along the line slanted at an alarming angle.

It was fairly average inside sadly with it being largely stripped of most furnishings. That being said, the setting this place is in is totally stunning. One of the most beautifully located abandoned buildings I have shot, for me up on a par with the Torpedo Testing Station at Arrochar.

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Thanks for looking :)
 
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